Meanwhile in Egypt, an Islamic Constitution is signed into law

And apparently, our current government, given their history, will really have no problem with it. Why do I say that? Because their love affair with the Muslim Brotherhood extends back quite some time. Despite all the warnings that the Brotherhood was radical and Islamist, this administration and Democrats have been making overtures for years.

Going back to April 2007, Democrats made special efforts to link up with the MB when visiting then-House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., met with Dr. Saad el-Katatni, the MB’s parliamentary leader, at former U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardone’s home, at a time when then-Secretary Condoleezza Rice has publicly refused to meet with the Brotherhood.

Mr. Ricciardone, who I can call a friend, once told me that his friendship with another MB leader, Essam El- Erain, extended for close to 30 years. Perhaps that was the catalyst for this meeting and subsequent meetings that took place at his residency.

A stream of meetings as well as public and private contacts followed between current U.S. Ambassador Ann Paterson and members of the Brotherhood since her arrival to Egypt shortly after the revolution. The ambassador seemed to favor the Brotherhood and the hardliner Salafis over the rest of the secular players in Egypt.

In fact, she has turned down requests for meetings from heads of political parties and other secular politicians, myself included, who opposed the Brotherhood.
In addition to the ambassador, other U.S. officials such as Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Sen. John Kerry made the pilgrimage to the MB headquarters and made sure to meet with their leader, Khairat El-Shater, at times even publicly praising him, as did Mr. Kerry. Those visits were made during a time where no political group had emerged as a leader in post-revolution Egypt.

The result, of course, is a state much more inclined to hostility toward Israel and the United States. Additionally, with the signing of the new Constitution, the secular state is dead. It will relegate women and minorities to second-class status. Additionally, given the Brotherhood’s history, Egypt is likely to lend more support to Hamas and Hezbollah. It is also likely, given the fact that it controls a border area on Gaza, that weaponry into that area will flow unimpeded.

I wanted to bring John Kerry’s role in this to light, since it is likely he will be the next Secretary of State. Just as he provided propaganda fodder for the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam war, he and other Democrats have provided “justification” for the Muslim Brotherhood’s move to establish Sharia law in Egypt.

The MBs used these high-level meetings to tell the Egyptian people that the U.S. was supporting them and did not object to their rule. Many of us reached out to U.S. officials at the State Department and complained that the U.S. policy regarding the MB was putting the secular forces in Egypt at a disadvantage because it seemed to be propping up the MB, but our concerns were dismissed.

We warned of the MB’s desire to impose Sharia law once in power and the grim effect it would have on the rights of the millions of Christians and moderate Muslims, including women and children, yet all of our warnings were dismissed. It seems that a policy decision was made to bring the MB to power in Egypt at all costs, and it happened.

As it turns out, the situation in Egypt, backed by Democrats and this administration, has made the country a less reliable US ally, has turned the cultural clock there back to the seventh century with the establishment of Sharia law, and has relegated a large portion of Egyptians to second-class status all the while becoming much more of a threat to the country of Israel.

If the purpose of foreign relations is to create situations that are favorable to the United States, this has been an epic failure.

35 Responses to Meanwhile in Egypt, an Islamic Constitution is signed into law

The four officials supposedly out of jobs because of their blunders in the run-up to the deadly Benghazi terror attack remain on the State Department payroll — and will all be back to work soon, The Post has learned.
The highest-ranking official caught up in the scandal, Assistant Secretary of State Eric Boswell, has not “resigned” from government service, as officials said last week. He is just switching desks. And the other three are simply on administrative leave and are expected back.
The four were made out to be sacrificial lambs in the wake of a scathing report issued last week that found that the US compound in Benghazi, Libya, was left vulnerable to attack because of “grossly inadequate” security.
State Department leaders “didn’t come clean about Benghazi and now they’re not coming clean about these staff changes,” a source close to the situation told The Post., adding, the “public would be outraged over this.”

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/muslim-brotherhood-take-egypts-economy
Very interesting.
Also, note that socialism was/is popular in Arab states, but this is from the 60’s Nasser/nationalism/socialism, etc. Islamists are in reaction to that. Now, the tendency to meddle among politicians is high, but one might make an analogy to Catholic opposition to communism in Poland, while being religious, also tended to drag around some anti-socialist economics with it too.

If the purpose of foreign relations is to create situations that are favorable to the United States, this has been an epic failure.

That is a helluva supposition. It works better this way: If the purpose of foreign relations is to create situations that are unfavorable to the United States, this has been victorious. Obama has previously apologized for US actions. Think of this as reparations.

I am by no means an Obama supporter, but I do not think our cards were nearly strong enough to have a good result come in Egypt whoever was our president.
Oh, I suppose we could have given the opposition time to organize…except they would still lose.
As Dale says, its hard to change the culture.
Erb overestimates the Egyptians who want a liberal democracy where everyone can let the freak flag fly, and Qando overestimates the ability of the US to tamp down on Islamists rising after decades of Mubarak. Think of Mubarak like Andropov or Ceacescu…what’s the chance you can install a more friendly, but still socialist ruler after people after that guy? Gorbachev….how long did he last?

How do we squash them?
Order the Egyptian Army which is probably rife with Islamists and Islamist fellow travelers to crush their brothers?
Also, remember Yeltsin on the tank? These things are not as easy to influence via diplomatic cable as we sometimes imagine.

Hmmmmmm. Wow. Tough choice. Do I want a dictatorship friendly to me, or an even more tyrannical dictatorship unfriendly to me? I’ll have to think about that one for awhile.
Pardon me while I return to reality.